Counter sink a hole in the bottom of the plywood sheet and use a 1/4"x20 thread bolt to secure the slider to the plywood sheet. If the camera can be left in place the simply assemble this and place it on any available surface like a table or laboratory bench. You can add screws or pegs to stop the slider in the two positions you use, allowing you to accurately reposition the camera every time.

If you have to remove the camera then you may need to add short legs so you can access the bottom of the plywood sheet. You can cut another hole in the plywood sheet to allow you to attach and detach the camera.

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Living and loving it in Bangkok, Thailand. Canon 7D - See the gear list for the rest.

so far these ideas are all great and much better than what ive been thinking up

alot of this is going over my head cuz like i said i have no experience with this. so if im understanding this properly, the plywood would essentially serve as a "stage" where the sample's position and tripod would be stored?

also, im not sure if it will change things but the object *must* be stored elsewhere- there is no way any sort of camera equipment will be able to accompany it... imagine like a fridge holding a grape and you needed to take a picture of the grape outside the fridge every so often.. im not sure if that changes the feasibility of the plywood idea